Friday Morning Commute - Hubbard

Good morning

Ward 5 D.C. Council candidate Drew Hubbard, running in the May 15 special election: "Our residents should be able to walk or to bike to wherever they want to go in the ward."

Tommy Wells wonders if Mayor Gray's sustainability program will get the funding it needs since a program to fight bike theft can't get $50,000 transferred from DDOT to MPD. "The executive branch has been unable to give $50,000 from DDOT to MPD, so there is no bait bike program starting this spring because they can't do it," Wells says.

A study aims to answer the question Why don't more women serve on Bicycle Advisory Committees. "several aspects related to these particularcommittees might be unappealing to women, including the steep learning curve for new members, the high proportion of male members, and male members' unsupportive behavior, their tendency to dominate the floor, and their likelihood of having a technical background...the top five barriers identified by the women included lack of time, lack of qualifications, lack of specific information about the committee, family and household responsibilities, and lack of interest in politics. A number of survey respondents explicitly named the male-dominated nature of their local committee as a barrier to their involvement."

Have they got the PA Ave pylons that they removed last fall for snow removal (over the objections of those of us who actually use the lanes) back in yet? DDOT told me they would, but that was 6 weeks ago! Every pylon helps.

The fact that our legal system effectively writes off all the external consequences of unsafe driving as a burden to be shared socially, instead of borne by the unsafe driver, is bizarre. I wonder if they even pulled the drivers license during an investigation. Or if they did an investigation at all. Probably not.

But was the cyclist wearing a helmet? That's the only thing that matters.

I think there's a New Yorker cartoon in there.

As an aside, I never knew that bridge over Broad Branch had a name. I still think they made it up. I believe there's a naming opportunity here. In the spirit of the Sono Bono Park, of taking almost inconsequential public facilities and giving them the names of former Tinseltown celebrities with vague DC ties, I propose we name it the Sylvester Stallone bridge. He spent some of his teen years in a house less than a mile away.

I think the entire cast of St. Elmo's Fire deserves an honorable mention at least, as the first movie that portrayed DC as a real place to live, not just as a backdrop. Emilio Estevez riding his bike through the rain! It is to weep for.

Sandra Bullock grew up in Arlington. Maybe some sort of tie-in to the "Speed" movie? Shirley MacLaine and her brother Warren Beatty also attended school in Arlington. There's got to be a good bridge name in there somewhere.